General manager Neil Olshey and his front office staff surveyed the deal-making landscape for weeks, and the group was working the phones at the practice facility well into the wee hours Thursday morning and, later, throughout the day until the noon deadline passed.

But, in the end, the Blazers’ obstacles were too great and their assets too limited to acquire reinforcements for the final 28 games of the season. And the vibe around the team Thursday afternoon was relief, not displeasure.

“I think we’ve accomplished a lot with the group we have,” center Robin Lopez said. “Guys are invested in what we’re doing. I don’t see any reason why we needed to make any personnel changes. We’ve got a close-knit group already.”

Added Wesley Matthews: “It’s definitely cool to know that this is the team we have and they trust us as much as we trust ourselves.”

That said, there was a heavy feeling around Rip City that something needed to be done. The Blazers (36-18) have excelled most of the season, but are in the middle of a rough stretch, having lost seven of their past 10 games. Also, because of injuries to LaMarcus Aldridge (groin), Meyers Leonard (left ankle) and Joel Freeland (right knee), the team’s frontcourt is razor-thin. Before the trio of short-term setbacks decimated the roster, the Blazers would have welcomed another frontcourt piece — the injuries only increased the urgency.

Would Olshey have liked to acquire, say, Spencer Hawes, a 7-foot-1 center who would seem to be a perfect complement for Aldridge and Lopez? Sure. Would the Blazers’ general manager have jumped at the chance to add a player like Chris Kaman, a veteran 7-foot center that Olshey and Blazers assistant coach Kim Hughes know well from their years with the Clippers? Probably.

But a variety of factors derailed any serious talks — for Hawes, Kaman or anyone else. The Blazers do not hold a pick in the 2014 NBA draft. They don’t possess a trade exception. They don’t have any salary cap space. They don’t even feature a valuable Raef LaFrentz-like expiring contract. Add in the fact that they didn't want to deal a piece of their core, and the Blazers didn’t have the assets to make a deal.

The NBA has been divided into haves and have nots, with one group of teams throwing everything into winning and contending this season while another group blatantly waves the white flag and plots for the talented upcoming draft. Outside of a couple headline-grabbing moves — the biggest being a trade in which Indiana shipped Danny Granger to Philadelphia for Evan Turner — contending teams were relatively quiet on Thursday.

Many of the Blazers’ chief competitors in the Western Conference, including Oklahoma City, Dallas, Minnesota, Memphis and Phoenix, stood pat. And even the teams that were active — Houston, Golden State and Denver, for example — made only minor moves.

Rebuilding teams were eager to unload players, but weren’t interested in what the Blazers had to offer. The 76ers — in addition to acquiring seemingly every second-round pick in the 2014 draft — handed Hawes to the Cleveland Cavaliers for two expiring contracts and two future draft picks. The Blazers could offer neither.

The lack of assets is a byproduct of the Blazers’ organizational decision last summer to win now. Olshey’s trade deadline came last summer, when he landed Lopez and Thomas Robinson, drafted CJ McCollum and Allen Crabbe and signed free agents Mo Williams, Dorell Wright and Earl Watson. And despite the team’s recent cold streak and injury woes, the commitment to winning has been successful so far. If he had the resources, Olshey no doubt would have added a player who would have made the Blazers a first-round favorite in the playoffs.

As it stands, you can flip a coin on the Blazers’ chances. Why jeopardize the team’s chemistry, which has been a strength, if you’re not going to be able to add a valuable piece?

Before Thursday’s deadline snooze fest, the Blazers had made some type of deal at or near the deadline eight years in a row. Similarly, it was the first time in Olshey’s career as an executive he didn’t tweak his roster with at least one minor deadline move, like the Eric Maynor acquisition last season.

Instead, the Blazers will try to stay afloat over the next week or two as they navigate their injury storm. Aldridge could return in a week. Leonard could come back in two. Freeland is expected to return before the postseason. The Blazers will finish the season with the same 15 players they started with, and they seem content with that.

“We like our team,” coach Terry Stotts said. “We like our players. We like where we are and what we’ve done so far this season. We’ve been very competitive with the roster that we have.”